Podcast Scraper: Shows, Episodes & Top Charts

Three podcast tools in one Actor, built on Apple Podcasts' public directory, the same catalogue that backs most podcast apps. No key, no login.

What it does

Mode	What you get
Search shows	Find podcasts by keyword and genre, publisher, episode count, artwork, RSS feed URL
Episodes	Any show's episodes with title, description, duration, release date and the direct audio URL
Top charts	Apple's Top Podcasts ranking per country and genre, with chartedAt for daily tracking

Competing Actors typically do one of these. Running all three in a single job keeps the output in one consistent shape.

Input example

{
  "searchTerms": ["true crime"],
  "chartCountries": ["us", "gb"],
  "genre": "true-crime",
  "maxResults": 50,
  "includeEpisodes": true,
  "maxEpisodesPerShow": 25
}

Use cases

• Feed an LLM: episode descriptions and audio URLs are ready for transcription and summarising
• Chart tracking: schedule it daily to see which shows climb, and in which countries
• Competitive research: how often does a rival publish, and how long are their episodes?
• Ad / sponsorship prospecting: find shows in a genre with real publishing cadence
• Podcast app / directory: bootstrap a catalogue with real metadata

What this replaces

There is no Apple Podcasts API in the sense people mean when they search for one. What exists is the iTunes Search API plus Apple's public top podcasts RSS feeds, and this Actor is a typed wrapper over both:

You want	Endpoint behind it	Input to use
Find shows by keyword	itunes.apple.com/search	searchTerms
One show by its Apple ID	itunes.apple.com/lookup	showIds
A country's chart	itunes.apple.com/<cc>/rss/toppodcasts	chartCountries
Episodes with audio	the show's own podcast RSS feed	includeEpisodes

The feedUrl on every show row is the show's real RSS feed, so you can hand it straight to any podcast RSS parser and keep going without this Actor.

Countries. The country goes into Apple's URL, so any storefront chart works: us, gb, de, fr, es, it, nl, se, br, mx, jp, kr, in, au, ca, il and the rest. Pass several and each country's chart comes back in the same run, tagged with the country it came from.

Genres: all, arts, business, comedy, education, fiction, government, health-fitness, history, kids-family, leisure, music, news, religion-spirituality, science, society-culture, sports, technology, true-crime, tv-film.

Notes

• Audio URLs come from the show's own feed entry, so episodes can be downloaded or transcribed directly.
• Apple serves up to ~195 recent episodes per show.
• Rows carry a recordType (show, episode, chartEntry, error) so mixed output stays easy to filter.
• Rows with an error field name exactly what failed. They are never charged.
• Public directory data only, no accounts, no personal data.

FAQ

Do I need an Apple Podcasts or Spotify API key?

No. This reads Apple's public podcast directory, the same catalogue that backs most podcast apps, with no key and no login.

Can I get the actual audio file for an episode?

Yes. Each episode row carries the direct audio URL from the show's own feed entry, so episodes can be downloaded, transcribed or summarised without a separate lookup.

How many episodes can I get per show?

Apple serves up to roughly 195 recent episodes per show. For a complete back catalogue you would need the show's own RSS feed, which is also returned on every show row.

How do I track podcast chart rankings over time?

Set chartCountries and run it on a schedule. Every chart row carries chartedAt, so consecutive runs give you a ranking history. Apple only ever publishes the current chart.

Can I search podcasts by genre rather than keyword?

Yes. genre takes Apple's genre slugs, such as true-crime, and can be combined with searchTerms to narrow a keyword search to one genre.

How do I tell the different row types apart?

Every row carries a recordType of show, episode, chartEntry or error, so a run that combines all three modes stays easy to filter into separate tables.

Is this legal, and does it include personal data?

It is public directory metadata: show titles, publishers, descriptions, artwork and feed URLs. No accounts, no listener data, no personal data.